1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method and a provision medium and, more particularly, to an image processing apparatus and method and a provision medium arranged to perform real-time image recognition based on learning input image data in a short time.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 15 illustrates the configuration of a conventional portable personal computer 200, which has a main body 201 and a lid portion 203 swingable relative to the main body 201 between open and closed states. A keyboard 202 is provided on the main body 201, and a liquid crystal display (LCD) 204 for displaying various sorts of information is provided on the lid portion 203.
The portable personal computer 200 can access a predetermined server to receive data of an image in three-dimensional virtual space and to display the image on the LCD 204.
As a user (or an avatar of the user) moves in a virtual space, an image in the three-dimensional virtual space changes according to the moving position of the user. To input the moving position in the virtual space, the user may operates the keyboard 202 or a mouse (not shown). However, such a position input method is disadvantageous in terms of operability and function.
The applicant of the present invention proposed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application 9-301095, a system in which a charge-coupled device (CCD) video camera 205 is attached to the lid portion 203 as shown in FIG. 15 to obtain an image on the back side of the LCD 204, the direction of the portable personal computer 200 is detected from a change in the image input by the CCD video camera 205, and virtual space image data is provided according to the detected direction.
If this proposed system is used, image data of a virtual space in a direction corresponding to the direction of the portable personal computer 200 can be displayed on the LCD 204 to enable a user to feel as a man in a virtual space and as if he or she recognizes an image when facing in a certain direction in the virtual space.
However, no method for computing the direction from the output of the CCD video camera 205 in a short time has been disclosed with respect to the above-described proposed system.
In view of the above-described circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus and method in which the amount of computation for detecting the direction is reduced to detect the direction in a short time.
To achieve this object, according to the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus comprising computation means for computing a centroid of a differential image between input image data and image data obtained by changing the input image data so that the image represented by the input image data is shifted, collection means for collecting information of image data of a peripheral area about the centroid obtained by the computation means, forming means for forming a category from information collected by the collection means, and learning means for learning the category formed by the forming means.
According to:another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing method of processing input image data with an image processing apparatus, the method comprising a computation step of computing a centroid of a differential image between input image data and image data obtained by changing the input image data so that the image represented by the input image data is shifted, a collection step of collecting information of image data of a peripheral area about the centroid obtained in the computation step, a forming step of forming a category from information collected in the collection step, and a learning step of learning the category formed in the forming step.
According to still another object of the present invention, there is provided a provision medium used to provide a program to an image processing apparatus for processing input image data, the apparatus executing a process in accordance with the program, the process comprising a computation step of computing a centroid of a differential image between input image data and image data obtained by changing the input image data so that the image represented by the input image data is shifted, a collection step of collecting information of image data of a peripheral area about the centroid obtained in the computation step, a forming step of forming a category from information collected in the collection step, and a learning step of learning the category formed in the forming step.
In the above-described image forming apparatus, image forming method, and process enabled by the provision medium, a category is formed from data of an image area around the centroid of a differential image between input image data and image data obtained by changing the input image data so that the image represented by the input image data is shifted, and the formed category is learnt.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus comprising computation means for computing a centroid of a differential image between input image data and image data obtained by changing the input image data so that the image represented by the input image data is shifted, collection means for collecting information of image data of a peripheral area about the centroid obtained by the computation means, category selection means for selecting a category from information collected by the collection means, and image selection means for selecting a stored image according to the category selected by the category selection means.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing method of processing input image data with an image processing apparatus, said method comprising a computation step of computing a centroid of a differential image between input image data and image data obtained by changing the input image data so that the image represented by the input image data is shifted, a collection step of collecting information of image data of a peripheral area about the centroid obtained in the computation step, a category selection step of selecting a category from information collected in the collection step, and an image selection step of selecting a stored image according to the category selected in the category selection step.
According to still a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a provision medium used to provide a program to an image processing apparatus for processing input image data, said apparatus executing a process in accordance with the program, the process comprising a computation step of computing a centroid of a differential image between input image data and image data obtained by changing the input image data so that the image represented by the input image data is shifted, a collection step of collecting information of image data of a peripheral area about the centroid obtained in said computation step, a category selection step of selecting a category from information collected in said collection step, and an image selection step of selecting a stored image according to the category selected!in said category selection step.
In the above-described image forming apparatus, image forming method, and process enabled by the provision medium, a category is formed from data of an image area around the centroid of a differential image between input image data and image data obtained by changing the input image data so that the image represented by the input image data is shifted, and a stored image can be selected based on the recognized category.